U.S. Metropolitan Area Employment Report for Oct. (Text)

The following is the text of the U.S.
metropolitan area employment report for Oct. released by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics.

METROPOLITAN AREA EMPLOYMENT AND UNEMPLOYMENT -- OCTOBER 2010

Unemployment rates were lower in October than a year earlier in
235 of the 372 metropolitan areas, higher in 121 areas, and
unchanged in 16 areas, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
reported today. Ten areas recorded jobless rates of at least
15.0 percent, while 12 areas registered rates of less than 5.0
percent. The national unemployment rate in October was 9.0
percent, not seasonally adjusted, compared with 9.5 percent a
year earlier. One hundred eighty-two metropolitan areas reported
over-the-year increases in nonfarm payroll employment, 178
reported decreases, and 12 had no change.

Metropolitan Area Unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

In October, 102 metropolitan areas reported jobless rates of at
least 10.0 percent, down from 129 areas a year earlier, while 78
areas posted rates be-low 7.0 percent, up from 74 areas in
October 2009. El Centro, Calif., again recorded the highest
unemployment rate, 29.3 percent, followed by Yuma, Ariz., 26.7
percent. Among the 10 areas with jobless rates of at least 15.0
percent, 8 were located in California. Bismarck, N.D., again
registered the lowest unemployment rate, 2.7 percent in October.
The areas with the next lowest rates were Fargo, N.D.-Minn., and
Grand Forks, N.D.-Minn., 3.2 percent each, and Lincoln, Neb.,
3.8 percent. Of the 12 areas with jobless rates under 5.0
percent, 10 were located in the West North Central census
division. Overall, 224 areas recorded unemployment rates below
the U.S. figure of 9.0 percent, 138 areas reported rates above
it, and 10 areas had rates equal to that of the nation. (See
table 1.)

Of the 49 metropolitan areas with a Census 2000 population of 1
million or more, Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, Calif., and
Las Vegas-Paradise, Nev., registered the highest unemployment
rates in October, 14.2 and 14.1 percent, respectively. Twelve
additional large areas posted rates of 10.0 percent or more. The
lowest jobless rate among the large areas was recorded by
Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, D.C.-Va.-Md.-W.Va., 5.8 percent.
Thirty-three of the large areas reported over-the-year
unemployment rate decreases, while 13 areas recorded rate
increases and 3 had no rate change. Detroit-Warren-Livonia,
Mich., posted the largest jobless rate decrease over the year (-
2.4 percentage points). Six other large areas recorded rate
decreases of 1.0 percentage point or more, with the largest of
these declines occurring in Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, N.C.-
S.C. (-1.8 points). New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, La.,
experienced the largest unemployment rate increase from October
2009 (+1.2 percentage points), followed by Las Vegas-Paradise,
Nev. (+1.0 point).

Metropolitan Division Unemployment (Not Seasonally Adjusted)

Eleven of the most populous metropolitan areas are made up of 34
metropolitan divisions, which are essentially separately
identifiable employment centers. In October, Detroit-Livonia-
Dearborn, Mich., registered the highest jobless rate among the
divisions, 14.4 percent. Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, Fla., had
the next highest rate, 13.1 percent. Nashua, N.H.-Mass., and
Bethesda-Rockville-Frederick, Md., reported the lowest
unemployment rates among the divisions, 5.2 and 5.4 percent,
respectively.

In 5 of the 11 metropolitan areas that contain divisions, the
ranges between the highest and lowest division jobless rates
were 2.0 percentage points or more in October. Boston-Cambridge-
Quincy, Mass.-N.H., recorded the largest rate difference among
its divisions, 6.0 percentage points (Lawrence-Methuen-Salem,
Mass.-N.H., 11.2 percent, compared with Nashua, N.H.-Mass., 5.2
percent).

The Regional and State Employment and Unemployment news release
for November is scheduled to be released on Friday, December 17,
2010, at 10:00 a.m. (EST). The Metropolitan Area Employment and
Unemployment news release for November is scheduled to be
released on Tuesday, January 4, 2011, at 10:00 a.m. (EST).

Technical Note

This release presents labor force and unemployment data from the
Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program (tables 1 and
2) for 372 metropolitan statistical areas and metropolitan New
England City and Town Areas (NECTAs), plus 8 areas in Puerto
Rico. Estimates for 34 metropolitan and NECTA divisions also
are presented. Nonfarm payroll employment estimates from the
Current Employment Statistics (CES) program (tables 3 and 4) are
provided for most of the same areas. State estimates were
previously published in the news release, Regional and State
Employment and Unemployment, and are republished in this release
for ease of reference. The LAUS and CES programs are both
federal-state cooperative endeavors.

Labor force and unemployment--from the LAUS program

Definitions. The labor force and unemployment data are based on
the same concepts and definitions as those used for the official
national estimates obtained from the Current Population Survey
(CPS), a sample survey of households that is conducted for the
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) by the U.S. Census Bureau. The
LAUS program measures employment and unemployment on a place-of-
residence basis. The universe for each is the civilian
noninstitutional population 16 years of age and over. Employed
persons are those who did any work at all for pay or profit in
the reference week (the week including the 12th of the month) or
worked 15 hours or more without pay in a family business or farm,
plus those not working who had a job from which they were
temporarily absent, whether or not paid, for such reasons as
labor-management dispute, illness, or vacation. Unemployed
persons are those who were not employed during the reference
week (based on the definition above), had actively looked for a
job sometime in the 4-week period ending with the reference week,
and were currently available for work; persons on layoff
expecting recall need not be looking for work to be counted as
unemployed. The labor force is the sum of employed and
unemployed persons. The unemployment rate is the number of
unemployed as a per-cent of the labor force.

Method of estimation. Estimates for states, the District of
Columbia, the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale metropolitan
division, and New York City are produced using time-series
models with real-time benchmarking to national CPS totals.
Model-based estimation was extended to the following areas and
their respective balances of state in 2005: the Chicago-Joliet-
Naperville, IL Metropolitan Division; Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor,
OH Metropolitan Statistical Area; Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI
Metropolitan Statistical Area; Miami-Miami Beach-Kendall, FL
Metropolitan Division; New Orleans-Metairie-Kenner, LA
Metropolitan Statistical Area; and Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
Metropolitan Division. (Model-based estimation of the New
Orleans-Metairie-Kenner metropolitan area was suspended
following Hurricane Katrina; the indirect estimation methods
described below will be used for this area until further
notice.) Modeling improves the statistical basis of the
estimation for these areas and provides important tools for
analysis, such as measures of errors and seasonally adjusted
series. For all other substate areas in this release, estimates
are prepared through indirect estimation procedures using a
building-block approach. Employment estimates, which are based
largely on “place of work” estimates from the CES program, are
adjusted to refer to place of residence as used in the CPS.
Unemployment estimates are aggregates of persons previously
employed in industries covered by state unemployment in-surance
(UI) laws and entrants to the labor force data from the CPS. The
substate estimates of employment and unemployment, which
geographically exhaust the entire state, are adjusted
proportionally to ensure that they add to the independently
estimated state or balance-of-state totals. A detailed
description of the estimation procedures is avail-able from BLS
upon request.

Annual revisions. Labor force and unemployment data shown for
the prior year reflect adjustments made at the end of each year,
usually implemented with January estimates. The adjusted model-
based estimates reflect updated population data from the U.S.
Census Bureau, any revisions in the other data sources, and
model reestimation. All substate estimates are reestimated and
adjusted to add to the revised model-based estimates.

Employment--from the CES program

Definitions. Employment data refer to persons on establishment
payrolls who receive pay for any part of the pay period that
includes the 12th of the month. Persons are counted at their
place of work rather than at their place of residence; those
appearing on more than one payroll are counted on each payroll.
Industries are classified on the basis of their principal
activity in accordance with the 2007 version of the North
American Industry Classification System.

Method of estimation. The employment data are estimated using a
“link relative” technique in which a ratio (link relative) of
current-month employment to that of the previous month is
computed from a sample of establishments reporting for both
months. The estimates of employment for the current month are
obtained by multiplying the estimates for the previous month by
these ratios. Small-domain models are used as the official
estimators for the approximately 39 percent of CES published
series which have insufficient sample for direct sample-based
estimates.

Annual revisions. Employment estimates are adjusted annually to
a complete count of jobs, called benchmarks, derived principally
from tax reports that are submitted by employers who are covered
under state un-employment insurance (UI) laws. The benchmark
information is used to adjust the monthly estimates between the
new benchmark and the preceding one and also to establish the
level of employment for the new benchmark month. Thus, the
benchmarking process establishes the level of employment, and
the sample is used to measure the month-to-month changes in the
level for the subsequent months.

Reliability of the estimates

The estimates presented in this release are based on sample
surveys, administrative data, and modeling and, thus, are
subject to sampling and other types of errors. Sampling error
is a measure of sampling variability--that is, variation that
occurs by chance because a sample rather than the entire
population is surveyed. Survey data also are subject to
nonsampling errors, such as those which can be introduced into
the data collection and processing operations. Estimates not
directly derived from sample surveys are subject to additional
errors resulting from the particular estimation processes used.
The sums of individual items may not always equal the totals
shown in the same tables because of rounding. Unemployment
rates are computed from un-rounded data and thus may differ
slightly from rates computed using the rounded data displayed in
the tables.

Labor force and unemployment estimates. Model-based error
measures are available for states on the Internet at
www.bls.gov/lau/lastderr.htm. Measures of nonsampling error are
not available, but additional information on the subject is
provided in Employment and Earnings Online at
www.bls.gov/opub/ee/home.htm.

Employment estimates. Measures of sampling error for state CES
data at the supersector level and for metropolitan area CES data
at the total nonfarm level are available online at
www.bls.gov/sae/790stderr.htm. Information on recent benchmark
revisions for states is available on the BLS Web site at
www.bls.gov/sae/.

Area definitions

The substate area data published in this release reflect the
standards and definitions established by the U.S. Office of
Management and Budget on December 1, 2009. Data reflect New
England City and Town Area (NECTA) definitions, rather than
county-based definitions, in the six New England States. A
detailed list of the geographic definitions is available at
www.bls.gov/lau/lausmsa.htm.

Additional information

More complete information on the technical procedures used to
develop these estimates and additional data appear in Employment
and Earnings Online.

Estimates of unadjusted and seasonally adjusted labor force and
unemployment data for states, census regions and divisions, and
seven substate areas are available in the news release, Regional
and State Employment and Unemployment. Estimates of labor force
and unemployment for all states, metropolitan areas, labor
market areas, counties, cities with a population of 25,000 or
more, and other areas used in the administration of various
federal economic assistance programs are available on the
Internet at www.bls.gov/lau/. Employment data from the CES
program are available on the BLS Web site at www.bls.gov/sae/.